yeah it does seem dumb. or maybe there's some cultural 'everyone knows about it' stereotype about ppl being easily jealous/admitting meeting up with another person of the opposite gender even a platonic way is frowned upon? but i personally have a habit of blurting things out so I prolly would've ended up saying something then and there if not texted her being like "your coworker asked me to join them for tea and suddenly confessed? do they do that a lot lol" or something like that
"I met a coworker of yours who wanted to talk about you. But when I realised she wasn't being honest, I ditched her and came here asap"
Why is it so hard to say that?